Mexico could pass Brazil as top LatAm economy in 10 years-Nomura

MEXICO CITY

MEXICO CITY Aug 8 Mexico could overtake Brazil
as Latin America's number-one economy in 10 years, according to
research by economists at Nomura.

Mexico could become a 'jaguar' economy, similar to the
fast-growing 'tiger' economies of East Asia, if its
newly-elected government succeeds in kick-starting lackluster
growth with ambitious economic reforms, Nomura said.

Optimism about the chance of change in Mexico contrasted
with reform fatigue in Brazil, where the government has wheeled
out successive measures to boost local industry and protect
exporters from a strong exchange rate.

The International Monetary Fund estimates Brazil has an
economy twice the size of Mexico's at $2.4 trillion, but Nomura
said the gap could disappear by 2022 if Mexico grows at the top
end of the bank's forecast range and Brazil at the low end.

Over the next decade, Nomura forecasts average growth of
2.75 percent to 3.25 percent in Brazil and 4.25 percent to 4.75
percent in Mexico. If both countries grow at the low or high end
of the range, Mexico would overtake Brazil in 2028-29.

Brazil and Mexico have leapfrogged each other as Latin
America's top economy in recent decades and Brazil moved back
into pole position in 2005. While political stagnation in Mexico
depressed growth, Brazil became the investors' darling, buoyed
by demand from China for its commodity exports.

But Brazil has hit a soft patch. Economists polled by
Reuters expect 2 percent growth in Brazil this year, a far cry
from the 7.5 percent boom in 2010, and 3.7 percent in Mexico.
The difference is helping to pull foreign investors into Mexican
stocks and bonds.

A recent rush of new factory announcements, for Italian tire
maker Pirelli, Volkswagen's luxury car
unit Audi and U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co, is
also highlighting the country's advantages over China as a place
to make goods for export to the neighboring United States.

"Mexico is the place to be for companies and investors,"
said Geoffrey Pazzanese, who co-manages Federated Investors'
$523 million Federated InterContinental Fund. The fund
has 12 percent of holdings in Mexico as opposed to 8 percent in
Brazil.

But economists expect Brazil to pick up as early as the
second half of this year, with the Reuters poll showing expected
growth of 4 percent in 2013 - outshining Mexico's 3.5 percent.

"Brazil will probably re-accelerate to faster growth than
Mexico over the next couple of years," said Pazzanese, noting
that Brazil's economy was more cyclical than Mexico's.